Florence Jewish Quarter History Private Walking Tour
Description
Discover the traces of Jewish history, culture and heritage in Florence’s Old Town, with highlights such as Florence Cathedral and Santa Croce Basilica. Optional: visit to the Great Synagogue and Jewish Museum with skip-the-line tickets. Choose one of our excellent tour options tailored to your needs and interests: 2-hour: Florence's Jewish Quarter Choose this walking tour to discover the traces of Jewish history in Florence's Old Town and Jewish Quarter. See Santa Croce, Great Synagogue, Duomo, and more (exteriors only). 3-hour: Florence's Jewish Quarter, Great Synagogue and Museum Choose this walking tour to visit the Great Synagogue and Jewish Museum, and discover the traces of Jewish history in Florence's Old Town and Jewish Quarter. Join us on this original Jewish tour to follow in the footsteps of Jewish people in Florence from their first arrival in the 14th-century, through World War II, to present day. Discover the most important Jewish heritage sites, synagogues.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Meet your guide in front of Opera del Duomo Museum, Piazza del Duomo, 9, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy. Please do not enter the building, it is only a meeting point and the staff is not informed about the tour.
Our Local History Expert-Guide will meet you at a convenient meeting point next to Florence Cathedral. Did you know that this iconic church features a Jewish inscription of the 10 Commandments? You will discover many traces of Jewish heritage on this tour, as the guide will take you to Piazza della Repubblica, the location of the Old Market where commercial trade took place and where Florence’s Jewish Ghetto was established.
You will learn about the role of Jewish people in commerce and their connection to the powerful Medici family as you walk around Piazza della Signoria, home to Palazzo Vecchio.
The guide will show you the hidden Star of David on the facade of the Santa Croce Basilica, and take you to the former Jewish Quarter, where many of the Jews moved after the Ghetto was demolished. Highlights include the Great Synagogue At the end of the tour, you can visit the Balagan Café or another kosher restaurant recommended personally by your Private Guide!
Visit the Great Synagogue and Jewish Museum in Florence. Skip-the-line tickets are included to save time. The Great Synagogue was one of the most important synagogues built in Europe in the age of the Jewish emancipation. The synagogue houses the Jewish Museum, where religious items and clothing are displayed. There are also exhibits commemorating the Holocaust victims. It’s a great place to learn more about the history of Jews in Florence.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- Wheelchair accessible
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Please check your email the day before the tour to receive important information.
- Please note that the number of attractions depends on the selected option. Tours inside the Great Synagogue and Jewish Museum are not included in a 2-hour option.
- Skip-the-line tickets to the Great Synagogue and Jewish Museum grant you immediate entry at your booked time, without waiting in line at the ticket office.
- The Great Synagogue is an active place of worship, so interior tours during scheduled events (such as Sabbath, prayer times, concerts etc) are limited. Please dress and act appropriately. Yarmulkes (the proper attire to visit the synagogue) are available on site free of charge.
- For the comfort of all guests, it is best to have 1 licensed guide per maximum of 25 guests. If there are 26-50 people in your group, we will provide the service of 2 licensed guides so that all guests can get the best experience, ask questions and hear the guide well.
Reviews(4)
We had a great tour with Michele who was very knowledgeable and interesting and was so obliging to fit in with our timing and needs.
The American guide was quite knowledgeable but not very energetic or enthusiastic, not really “connecting the dots” of history, so that was a bit disappointing compared to other guided tours we experienced in Italy. She even started our tour saying that there’s not much visible Jewish history in Florence, which is not very motivating at the beginning of a tour about Jewish history in Florence…
Thank you for your feedback. We're glad to hear that you appreciated the guide's knowledge, but we're sorry the overall delivery and tone of the tour did not meet your expectations. We'll review this internally and look into how we can improve the experience for future guests.
The synagogue is stunning, but best of all was our knowledgeable guide, Linda Sassano Higgins, who brought to life the history, cultural context and individual experiences of the Jewish community in Florence.
We did a private guided tour through the Jewish quarter and the Jewish museum and temple. This tour was nothing special. The guide walked fast and was always ahead of us instead of engaging in conversation and providing commentary during our walk. We paid extra for the 3 hour tour and it was totally not worth it. The guide did not provide any additional information. I would highly recommend that you see the temple and walk around the Jewish quarter on your own self guided tour and save your money!
